Vancouver cop who threatened furniture store owner gets suspended sentence

A constable with the Vancouver Police Department who threatened to "bash" in the head of a furniture store owner has received a 12-month suspended sentence.

Const. Deepak Kumar Sood was off duty when he made dozens of angry calls to a Coquitlam furniture business on Jan. 6, 2018, after a newly purchased dresser tipped onto the foot of his young son.

During one of those calls, Sood said "I'm coming down to bash your f--king head in" to Muse & Merchant Home Collection owner Gert Knudsen. When Knudsen threatened to call the police, Sood replied, "Don't bother, I am the f--king police."

That last comment was particularly troubling to Provincial Court Judge Thomas Woods, who said he could not grant the defence's request for a conditional discharge.

"Having said those words to Mr. Knudsen, Mr. Sood brought the full weight of his special powers and authority as a police officer into the equation," Woods wrote in a sentencing decision Thursday.

"He actively misused those powers and that authority, thereby compounding the jeopardy he faces as a police offender awaiting sentencing in a very significant way."

Sood, 35, was found guilty last month of a single charge of making threats to cause bodily harm. As a result of Thursday's sentencing, he will have to complete 30 hours of community service and is barred from having any contact with Knudsen or his employees. For the next 12 months, he can't go within 100 metres of Knudsen's home or business.

'Entirely improper and collateral purposes'

Sood's trial heard that he bought a 200-pound dresser from Muse & Merchant in November 2017. The dresser came with a kit that could be used to fasten it to the wall and prevent it from tipping, but neither Sood nor the delivery team used it.

All the drawers in the dresser were open when it fell forward, pinning the foot of Sood's four-year-old son to the ground on the day of the incident, according to court documents. After the officer freed the boy, he began calling the store, demanding someone come and take the dresser away immediately.

At one point, Sood threatened to throw the dresser through the front window of the store if Knudsen didn't send a truck, according to the sentencing decision.

"Mr. Sood in my view invoked his status as a police officer for entirely improper and collateral purposes — in his case to vindicate what he believed was his private right in a consumer dispute," Woods wrote.

During his testimony, Sood denied threatening Knudsen.

Knudsen prepared a victim impact statement for the court, and said the threats made him genuinely afraid for himself and his employees. He now worries about what might happen in future interactions with police.

"Despite knowing that I have been honest about the incident, it seems possible that colleagues and friends of Mr. Sood may believe him over me," Knudsen wrote.

"While I have faith in the legal system and the many good officers in law enforcement, Mr. Sood's behaviour has left room for doubt and has impacted my overall sense of safety and security."

Sood has been a VPD officer for 10 years and has an "unblemished workplace record," according to the decision. He's currently the subject of a Police Act investigation.